The president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis, Neel Kashkari, said on Tuesday that bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are “like a giant garbage dumpster.” He would rather his one-year-old daughter have a low yielding Treasury bond than a bitcoin, emphasizing that all that’s emerging from the crypto world “is burning garbage.”

Bitcoin and Crypto ‘a Giant Garbage Dumpster’

Minneapolis Federal Reserve President Neel Kashkari talked about cryptocurrencies, including bitcoin, at a Town Hall event in Kashkari, Montana, on Tuesday. He took office as president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis in January 2016.

Washington Companies CEO Larry Simkins moderated the Q&A session at the event. He asked Kashkari: “Your daughter is a year old and if I want to buy her a gift, would you prefer I give her a low yielding Treasury bond or a bitcoin?” The Minneapolis Federal Reserve president laughed and then replied, “Between those two, I think low yield treasury bond.” Kashkari elaborated:

The bitcoin and cryptocurrency, it’s basically, it’s like a giant garbage dumpster. The reason that the dollar has value is because the U.S. government has a legal monopoly on producing the dollar.

Minneapolis Federal Reserve President Neel Kashkari.

He continued: “If you go in your basement and start photocopying your dollar bills, the Secret Service will come and knock on your door and arrest you. Only the U.S. government has the authority to produce dollars, scarcity is in part what makes them valuable.”

Thousands of Garbage Coins

Kashkari further said: “Well, the virtual currency, cryptocurrency world, there are thousands of these garbage coins out there, thousands of them literally, people have been fleeced for tens of billions of dollars, and finally, the SEC is getting involved in cracking down on this, but people are just getting fleeced by nonsense.”

“So I can create Neelcoin, you can create Larrycoin,” he told Simkins. “I can create something that looks just like bitcoin … it’s just a giant garbage dumpster at this point,” the Minneapolis Federal Reserve president opined, concluding:

Maybe five years from now, or 10 years from now, or 20 years from now, something useful will emerge from this but so far all that’s emerging is burning garbage.

The statements by the Minneapolis Federal Reserve president echo President Donald Trump’s view on bitcoin and cryptocurrencies. Trump tweeted in July: “I am not a fan of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies, which are not money, and whose value is highly volatile and based on thin air.” He emphasized that the dollar is the only real currency in the U.S.

What do you think of the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Minneapolis’ view on bitcoin and cryptocurrencies? Let us know in the comments section below.

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Kevin Helms

A student of Austrian Economics, Kevin found Bitcoin in 2011 and has been an evangelist ever since. His interests lie in Bitcoin security, open-source systems, network effects and the intersection between economics and cryptography.